One third internet users were susceptible to malware between July and September : Report

In terms of spam sent via computers and servers based in India, the country takes seventh position worldwide with a share of 3.72%, as disclosed by a recent report of Kaspersky Lab, the world’s leading anti-virus provider.

The Kaspersky, in its third quarter Security Bulletin, July-Sep 2013 revealed some major findings, statistics and data regarding various threats detected during this period along with the India’s current status worldwide in terms of these threats.

There were basically four types of threats discussed in the report:

1) Web Threats: Fraudulent (Phishing) and hacked websites comes under this category of threats. Usually the criminal will send a spam email or SMS message or something similar to potential victims to let them know about the web site.

3) Malicious Threats: These are self-replicating software that attaches itself to other software such as Virus, worms, Trojan horse etc.

4) Spam: Sending junk mails or the same message indiscriminately to large numbers of recipients on the Internet.

As per the report, the Indian Internet users face high amount of risks when it comes to web surfing. Also, the facts disclosed in the report indicates towards India’s continuously rising graph across various types of threats. The table below depicts a brief comparison between the last quarter and the current quarter results.

“The threat landscape in the country continues to evolve, with cyber criminals finding innovative tactics and means to attack users. We hope that with the release of such reports, users become more and more aware that their data across various platforms is at risk, and take necessary precautionary measures accordingly”, said Mr. Altaf Halde, Managing Director, Kaspersky Lab – South Asia.

With a rise in eCommerce trend in India, entrepreneurs and startups have taken internet as a major tool to reach their audience. Everyday, the internet users receive thousands of spam mails, some of which may even prove fatal to the hard drive or the user’s system. Malwares, phishing attacks and other cyber threats have become an important concern among the cyber security authorities of India.

Recently, The Union Government released India’s national cyber security policy for the year 2013, as a protection towards growing cyber crimes & growing privacy concerns in the country. However, with India having a growing internet user base of 160 Mn, and its eCommerce segment gaining success at at a fast pace, how effective are these security measures?